This invention relates in general to vehicle wheels and in particular to an improved method for producing a full face fabricated vehicle wheel.
A conventional fabricated vehicle wheel is typically of a two-piece construction and includes an inner disc and an outer xe2x80x9cfullxe2x80x9d rim. The disc can be cast, forged, or fabricated from steel, aluminum, or other alloys, and includes an inner annular wheel mounting portion and an outer annular portion. The wheel mounting portion defines an inboard mounting surface and includes a center pilot or hub hole, and a plurality of lug receiving holes formed therethrough for mounting the wheel to an axle of the vehicle. The rim is fabricated from steel, aluminum, or other alloys, and includes an inboard tire bead seat retaining flange, an inboard tire bead seat, an axially extending well, an outboard tire bead seat, and an outboard tire bead seat retaining flange. In some instances, a three-piece wheel construction having a mounting cup secured to the disc is used. In both types of constructions, the outer annular portion of the disc is secured to the rim by welding.
A full face fabricated vehicle wheel is distinguished from other types of fabricated wheels by having a one-piece wheel disc construction. In particular, the full face wheel includes a xe2x80x9cfull facexe2x80x9d disc and a xe2x80x9cpartialxe2x80x9d rim. The full face-disc can be formed cast, forged, or fabricated from steel, aluminum, or other alloys. The full face disc includes an inner annular wheel mounting portion and an outer annular portion which defines at least a portion of an outboard tire bead seat retaining flange of the wheel. The wheel mounting portion defines an inboard mounting surface and includes a center pilot or hub hole, and a plurality of lug receiving holes formed therethrough for mounting the wheel to an axle of the vehicle. The partial rim is fabricated from steel, aluminum, or other alloys, and includes an inboard tire bead seat retaining flange, an inboard tire bead seat, an axially extending well, and an outboard tire bead seat. In some instances, the outboard tire bead seat of the rim and the outer annular portion of the disc cooperate to form the outboard tire bead seat retaining flange of the full face wheel. In both types of constructions, the outboard tire bead seat of the rim is positioned adjacent the outer annular portion of the disc and a weld is applied to secure the rim and the disc together.
This invention relates to an improved method for forming a full face fabricated vehicle wheel and includes the steps of: (a) providing a disc blank formed from a metal material; (b) subjecting the disc blank to a metal stamping operation to produce a partially formed non-bowl shaped full face wheel disc having at least one stamped pocket formed therein; (c) forming at least one decorative window in the partially formed full face wheel disc; (d) coining a back side of the window in the partially formed full face wheel disc; (e) trimming an outer edge of the partially formed full face wheel disc to a predetermined diameter; (f) forming a center hub hole in the partially formed full face wheel disc; (g) subjecting the partially formed full face wheel disc to one or more final metal forming operations to form at least one of an outer flange and a plurality of lug bolt mounting holes in the partially formed wheel disc so as to produce a finished full face wheel disc; and (h) securing the full face wheel disc to a preformed wheel rim to produce the finished full face fabricated vehicle wheel.
Other advantages of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment, when read in light of the accompanying drawings.